No entry from Sunday to Swiss village threatened by landslide

The Graubünden village of Brienz/Brinzauls may no longer be entered from Sunday Keystone-SDA

The deadline for evacuating the village of Brienz/Brinzauls in eastern Switzerland ends at 1pm on Sunday. After that, phase red begins: access to the village is prohibited. This situation could last until spring.

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The 80 or so inhabitants of Brienz/Brinzauls have to leave their homes for the second time in 18 months. Some 1.2 million cubic metres of rubble above the village is moving down the valley and threatens to destroy the mountain village.

The municipality of Albula, to which Brienz/Brinzauls belongs, is helping those affected to find temporary accommodation. A return to Brienz/Brinzauls will probably not be possible until spring 2025.

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Not only people, but also animals are being relocated: some of the livestock have been moved to the Plantahof farm in Lanquart, while other animals are being entrusted to various farms.

The 500-year-old late Gothic altar has also been removed from the church of St. Calixtus for a second time. The Brienz/Brinzauls local archives were also removed.

The ban on entering the danger zone around Brienz/Brinzauls also applies to the fire department. If there is a fire, they will only be deployed if the early warning systems and incident command determine that an operation is justifiable.

“If we cannot rule out a danger to our people from the mountain, we do not move into the danger zone,” explained a fire department inspector in a bulletin from the municipality of Albula. This decision was based on the priorities for fire department operations in Switzerland: the first priority is people, then animals, the environment and only in fourth place material assets.

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First rockslide came to a standstill in front of the village

The residents of Brienz/Brinzauls had to leave their homes in May 2023, when a rockslide threatened to sweep away the entire village.

On the night of June 16, 2023, huge volumes of rock finally shot down the slope, burying a road and meadows metres deep under rubble. The masses of rock came to a halt just a few metres from the village.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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